Musti Group is the Nordic’s largest pet retailer. They’ve been a partner of Helsinki Pride for years, which on the surface might seem like a surprising collaboration.

However, pets and the LGBT community have a tight bond. The strict Finnish adoption laws mean that to many members of the LGBT community pets are a substitute for a child.

Studies show that especially gay and bisexual men look to pets as means of support, emphasising the pets’ role in their households.

In the summer of 2023, Musti Group wanted to celebrate the unsung heroes of the LGBT community, and cement the pets’ place in Finnish LGBT culture. Simultaneously, Musti Group wanted to increase their brand preference among LGBT and other pet owners.

The campaign ran during Helsinki Pride Week. Outdoor posters were chosen as the primary media, as they would be displayed among the Pride celebrations. The campaign’s budget was 80k€.

The canon of characters created by Tom of Finland is legendary among Finnish LGBT culture. We decided to aim high, and contacted the Tom of Finland Foundation which has been in charge of the artist’s legacy since his passing. Our suggestion was bold, but justified – let’s include pets into the official Tom of Finland canon.

The foundation agreed with our insights and that pets deserve their place among the iconic characters created by Tom.

We commissioned three new official Tom of Finland drawings that were published in the summer of 2023. The timing was important for two reasons. Helsinki Pride Week is celebrated late June and early July. Also, an exhibition celebrating Tom of Finland’s extensive career was on display in Helsinki’s Modern Art Museum during that time. The new drawings would be published in outdoor advertising media that surrounds the museum, expanding the exhibition outside the museum’s walls.

The task of creating the drawings was given to the Finnish artist Kajo Rauni. Their expertise in animal anatomy and ability to replicate Tom’s iconic pencil drawings made them the perfect choice.

The Tom of Finland characters are well-known for their clothing, including leather jackets and caps, and sailor apparel. That’s what the animal characters were dressed to as well. The clothing was complimented by the official Tom of Finland patches and emblems familiar from the original artwork.

The new drawings were made digitally, emulating the pencil drawings of Tom. The shading, shapes and recognisable grain of the originals was meticulously imitated to make the new pet characters a seamless part of the Tom of Finland canon. Out of respect, no copy was included in the executions.

The drawings were published during Helsinki Pride Week in outdoor advertising, on the front page of Finland’s largest newspaper and on social media.

The expansion of the canon became headline news in Finland and LGBT media worldwide. In addition to the extensive outdoor, print and social media campaign, it generated a PR reach of 75 million, which is 15 times the population of Finland.

The most important result of the campaign is the fact that the unsung heroes of the LGBT community now have a permanent place in the iconic canon created by Tom of Finland.

The significance of that was also recognised by the local LGBT community, which embraced the new drawings. Musti Group’s brand preference skyrocketed by 40% as the community shared the drawings enthusiastically, with at least one person getting a tattoo of one of the drawings.

The appropriately timed campaign also accelerated the popularity of the Tom of Finland exhibition, making his life’s work more known during a time when Helsinki was buzzing with tourists from around the world.